Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: ‘What A Woman!’ Pt. II

Contributor Léah Boukobza is a third year Liberal Arts student, majoring in Geography, and minoring in Politics with a love of art, literature, and the written word.

Translator Isa Betoret García is a second year War Studies and History student who is particularly interested in how feminism affects every day life and believes that open conversation and compassion are the best ways to change the world.

[Featured Image: A portrait photograph of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in a blue top against a yellow/green background.]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in Nigeria on September 15th, 1977. Currently living between the USA and Lagos, she is recognized around the globe, both for her talent as a novelist and her feminism she states loud and clear. Her famous 2012 TED Talk “We Should All Be Feminists”, and her 2017 essay Dear Ijeawele, A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions demonstrate her commitment. What a woman!

Image Source: Adichie’s author profile on Amazon.com.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie grew up in Nsukka, a university city in Nigeria. Both of her parents work for the University of Nigeria (UNN), her father teaching statistics and her mother working as a register. This Igbo couple has 6 kids, including Chimamanda who is their fifth. After studying medicine and pharmacy for more than a year at UNN, Chimamanda decides to fly to the USA to finish her education. She began by studying Political Sciences and Communication, and then completed a master’s degree in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University along with one in African studies at Yale University. In 2003, the publication of her first novel Purple Hibiscus definitely marks the beginning of her literary glory, thanks to a recognition by her peers. A few years later, in 2010, the New Yorker listed her among the authors in the “20 under 40” fiction issue. Then, her fourth book, Americanah (2013) owes her the pleasure of seeing her novel selected by the New York Times as one of “The 10 Best Books of 2013”. Actually, her novel will even be very soon adapted in a movie produced by Brad Pitt!

Not only do her writings give Chimamanda her fame, but also her feminist convictions that she has publicly shared to the world. Her 2012 TED Talk “We Should All Be Feminists”, held in London, is probably the most notable one. During this speech, she tackles the thorny issue that gender is. After acknowledging that “The men and women are different. We have different hormones, we have different sexual organs, we have different biological abilities, women can have babies, men can’t.”, she then reminds us that even though “52% of the world’s population is female”, “most of the positions of power and prestige are occupied by men”. According to her, this used to definitely make sense when “physical strength was the most important attribute for survival”. However, nowadays this rationale seems completely obsolete since our leaders are no longer recruited for their strength, but rather for their intelligence and creativity – attributes both men and women are susceptible to possess. Chimamanda concludes this part by stating that “We have evolved; but it seems to me that our ideas of gender have not evolved”. She then suggests that the best way to make our society evolve would be to raise our daughters and sons differently, free from gender expectations.

“The problem with gender – she says – is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are. (…) Now take cooking for example. Today women in general are more likely to do the housework than men, the cooking and cleaning. But why is that? Is it because women are born with a cooking gene? Or because over years they have been socialized to see cooking as their role?”

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is certain that gender exceptions could and will change. Our culture has evolved, and so will humanity’s common view on gender. To conclude her speech, she gives the audience her own definition of the word feminist: “A feminist is a man or a woman who says, ‘Yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today, and we must fix it. We must do better.'” Hence, We should all be feminists!

Image Source: Maria Grazia Chuiri’s Dior collection.

Not only did this speech have a direct impact on its audience, but it “soon reverberated across the globe (reportedly viewed more than 2 million times)”, and engendered tremendous outcomes in mainstream culture. Beyonce decided to incorporate fragments of the TED speech to her song Flawless (2013), and DIOR released a tee-shirt with the words “We Should All Be Feminists” written on it. When asked about her reaction towards the mainstream appropriation of her discourse, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie rejects the idea that feminism can be a marketing ploy. She adds to The Guardian: “No. Sorry. Feminism is not that hot. I can tell you I would sell more books in Nigeria if I stopped and said I’m no longer a feminist”. According to her, feminism should stop being thought as an intellectual idea. It is a good thing the topic is actually debated and brought in everyday conversation. For her “feminism is a movement for which the end goal is to make itself no longer needed”, therefore it is essential for feminism not to be only debated between scholars and intellectuals. On Beyonce using some of her speech in her song Flawless – something that has often been reproached to Chimamanda – she answers “I think that anything that gets young people talking about feminism is a very good thing”.

The very idea of talking to young people, a.k.a the new generation, about feminism is actually very important to Chimamanda. In Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions the author published suggestions on how to raise a feminist daughter. Before being published as a book in 2017, Dear Ijeawele was first an e-mail addressed to her friend – Ijeawele – who wanted advice on how to educate her new-born daughter. The letter was then published on the author’s official Facebook page in 2016. The first two recommendations are made to the baby’s parents. First, the mother has to “be a full person”, in a sense that she should not just consider herself as a mother and should accept the fact that she cannot always be perfect because “there is no such thing as a Superwoman”. Then, the couple should take care of the child’s education together: “Chudi should do everything that biology allows – which is everything but breastfeeding”. The idea that mothers should be the one in charge of children is due, according to her, to ‘gender roles’ that “is absolute nonsense” – a principle children should be taught. She reminds us of the fact that gender roles are unconsciously inculcated to children from infancy – through the choice of the toys we give them, of the color of their clothes, … She ironically adds “I cannot help but wonder about the clever marketing person who invented this pink-blue binary”, an idea very well illustrated in this video based on a poem titled Pink or Blue. Another recommendation she stresses on is not to concede of what she calls “Feminism Lite”, i.e. “the idea of conditional female equality “, which rests on the thought that “men are naturally superior but should be expected to ‘treat women well’”. Assuming that men are superior to women is against the very root of feminism. The tenth suggestion: “Be deliberate about how you engage with her and her appearance” is also very important. Feminism should not be thought of as femininity’s antonym. “If she likes makeup let her wear it”. For Chimamanda, believing that these two terms are exclusive is misogynistic. Women don’t necessarily choose to be feminine in order to please the opposite sex. It can simply be because they like to. Chimamanda is actually extremely feminine, and even has become the face of Boots No7 makeup. Nevertheless, she is definitely a feminist – and a truly inspiring woman.

As a conclusion, I would simply say that “We Should All Be Feminists”!